NEW laws requiring rock fishers to wear life jackets at high-risk locations will prevent countless unnecessary deaths, according to Hunter Surf Life Saving president Henry Scruton.
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Emergency Services Minister David Elliott announced a newly-established working group would identify the high risk locations, based on information including the number of fatalities and near drownings at a site, wave dynamics, usage and accessibility.
The locations will form part of legislation to be introduced into NSW Parliament this year. Rock fishers will be given a one-year grace period before the law is enforced.
Mr Scruton said he had spent years advocating for change and was “really, really pleased”.
“This is going to save so many lives and unnecessary grief,” Mr Scruton said.
“For a lot of rock fishers, their first instinct is to try and get back to land because they think they’re going to sink or drown. They start swimming towards or climbing back up the rocks with their back to the waves, but it’s the next wave that gives them a thump, that’s the one with the biggest impact.
“Wearing a life jacket is going to give them confidence that they will stay afloat – it’s going to give them time to think about their next move.”
Of the 37 rock fishers who have died in NSW over the past four years, only one was wearing a life jacket. Wyong recorded five deaths, Lake Macquarie had four and Great Lakes recorded three.
A July 2015 inquest into the drowning deaths of nine fishermen was told the cost of each rescue effort where a rock fisherman had died was between $450,000 and $600,000.
Mr Scruton said he understood why some rock fishers had complained previously about “cumbersome” life jackets but said wearing newer equipment was comfortable and “should not be an issue”.
Toronto Bait and Tackle’s Phil Macdonald injured his knee in a rock fishing accident in 1981 and said while he supported the new laws, there would always be fishers who thought they were “bulletproof”.
“The older brigade will go “I’ve been doing this for years, there’s no way I’m doing [or wearing] that,” Mr Macdonald said. “You just have to teach yourself ‘yeah, I do need to put this on’.”
Mr Macdonald said rock fishers also needed to have more common sense and ensure they never fished alone, could read weather conditions and had life jackets properly fitted.
The new laws will be complemented by an education campaign targeting culturally and linguistically diverse communities, a dedicated advertising campaign and improved warning signs at rock fishing sites.